When an oil well is producing oil, it will sometimes produce undesirable components, such as water. For an oil well that is producing substantial oil, the investment in expensive and complex devices to continuously measure relative fractions of oil, gas, water and/or other materials, is certainly justified. One such device uses nuclear densitometry to provide a multiphase flowmeter than can continuously monitor relative amounts of oil, water, gas and/or other substances. However, a multiphase flowmeter based upon nuclear densitometry can cost as much as $100,000 per installation. While this cost is high, it is easily justified by an oil well with significant producing volume.
Oil wells, toward the end of their usable lifetime, begin to produce significant amounts of three-phase oil/water/gas mixture. Moreover, since these wells have a diminished production capacity, the significant capital expenditures to manage the oil well is not always feasible. For example, the continued use of a multiphase flowmeter employing nuclear densitometry will often not be justified. However, simply abandoning the declining oil well in view of the higher operating costs is also disfavored since it would leave behind the remaining portion of oil in the well.
It would be beneficial in the art of oil recovery if a new multiphase flowmeter solution could be provided for oil wells that do not produce oil in sufficient volume to justify a multiphase flowmeter based upon nuclear densitometry. Providing such a multiphase flowmeter could extend the usable lifetime of an oil well without the associated high operating costs of a high production well.